Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Free public ground transportation. Suppose we taxed ourselves and picked up the fares for all mass transit, freight and people, traveling on the ground. Suppose we set standards for efficiency and environmental impact, standards that today’s trains and buses could meet, but standards that would become more stringent from year to year. Free trips anywhere in the USA for anybody riding or shipping by qualified conveyance.

Instead of upping subway fares, New York City would scrap them altogether. Goodbye, turnstiles. Good-bye, fare machines. Get on and go. Cars would stay in the driveway. Trucks would disappear from the roads, at least for long hauls. At half-a-buck a mile by car, people would get on board the trains and buses in millions. The skies would clear, of airplanes and of pollutants. Commerce would benefit. In fact, new kinds of commerce would arise just because of the increase in social travel, as opposed to isolation motoring and the attendant road rage we enjoy now. The pressures of social disequilibrium–resulting from such forces as immigration, natural disaster, unemployment–would be reduced, as displaced people were empowered to go where the work is, ride with the rest of us, and go back home when it pleased them to do so. Holders of airline, fuel and automotive assets would suffer. Tough. Too expensive, you say? What’s expensive is each one of us pushing a ton of steel around to get from place to place. Fournier for Congress

1 comment:

That analysis is probably the least grounded in reality I've ever read.

Free transport would be relegated even more to only those that are poor enough to need to use it. More people would be encouraged and the "choice rider" that transit systems seek would disappear. Either to cars or other alternatives. Transit would become the most disgusting for of transportation possible - and it already has issues with filth.

Are you really sure you want fareless transit for the US? Aside from that, with the increased demand, how high would taxes have to be? How high would the induced demand go? We can barely afford to run transit as it is with the fares being collected, how would we fill the multi-billion dollar gap left if we rid ourselves of fares? How would we even manage a semblance of supply and demand?

Free transit is equal to freeways. Instead of traffic jams on the road we'd just have traffic jams on transit.

I'd prefer people paid for their use. Then I know if I buy a damn seat, I'll get a seat. How about you?

If we made transit fareless we migth as well just remove all the seats, realy - ALL THE SEATS and make it standing room only.

In addition to that toss some shower heads in there and everyone can ride naked. Get a free shower and clean up the disheveled masses.

Anyway, I doubt any of this fare-less nonsense really catches on, but trying to perpetuate it is just a bad idea.

Free is Cheaper

How is free transit cheaper? Don't you have to make up for lost fare revenue? The answer is that your city will save so much money in other areas, and quality of life will improve so much that you will get back much more than the lost fares. Some examples are listed below. If you want to see specific numbers, see our spreadsheet here.

Increased return on investment. Public transit involves large fixed costs. When fares are gone, there are more riders per vehicle, getting more value from the investment.

Reduced parking costs. With free transit, fewer people will park downtown. City parking authorities can cost $180 million a year, paid by fines, which are just a tax on customers and delivery services.

Reduced traffic congestion. Studies have shown that the time lost in traffic costs urban economies hundreds of millions of dollars.

Less money exported for gasoline. A medium sized city can export 1 million dollars a day in gasoline money for cars. Free buses will reduce this considerably.

Better quality of life, priceless. In Hasselt, Belgium, when fares were removed, people in hospital started receiving more visitors.

Total Pageviews

About This Blog

The Free Public Transit Blog and freepublictransit.org are products of the virtual community advocating fare-free urban public transportation. We collect and publish opinion, articles, data, and/or criticism. We do not accept paid advertising or financial donations. For material original to the blog and site there are no rights reserved. You can contact us through gmail/fpteditors.

Follow by Email

CFTE public transportation facts

85% of all transportation costs in the U.S. are related to private automobiles. [more]